It always comes back to race for some people.

Donald Trump said he has “been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln,” speaking to a large gathering of African American journalists in Chicago on Wednesday.

Trump’s ridiculous assertion didn’t matter nearly as much as the controversy that kicked up around his appearance at the annual National Association of Black Journalists Convention and Career Fair.

There has been a huge flap about whether the former president should have been invited in the first place, especially when Vice President Kamala Harris wasn’t scheduled for a similar meeting.

And the tension was evident from the first question in Trump’s question-and-answer sit-down, which turned the event into a familiar sparring session between the former president and mainstream media members attempting to hold him to account for the things he says and does.

“What y’all just witnessed, I told y’all was going to happen,” political analyst Roland S. Martin, a longtime NABJ member, said on Instagram immediately following the 30-minute question-and-answer session.

“I’m pissed because we told NABJ. That man didn’t even wait 30 seconds before he attacked a Black woman, Rachel Scott, who asked him a strong question. What you witnessed is exactly who this man is, the contempt he has for Black people. … This is why you do not give that man a platform. This is why you do not let that man talk to your people.”

Respectfully, I couldn’t disagree........

© Arizona Republic